Jeff Fenech

Tonight; the Marrickville mauler Jeff Fenech, a bit tender after the rematch with his old nemesis, Azumah Nelson.

AUDIO: "Good left hook there by Jeff. We hope you've enjoyed a stroll down memory lane Jeff Fenech and Azumah Nelson. And from World Champion Jeff Fenech is now a champion on top of the world. FINAL BELL.

Jeff Fenech is 44 years old. Azumah Nelson is 49, so its not surprising that some commentators thought this was an unedifying spectacle, as one put it:" They were both 10 kilograms and 16 years past their peak"

But who cares, says Jeff Fenech, he did it to make money, to prove that being over 40 isn't the end of the road, and to entertain which the fight certainly did.

8,000 people crammed into the Vodafone Arena in Melbourne, some of the spectators, controversial in their own right.

Underworld figure Mick Gatto a good friend of Fenech's was there, sitting with his next door neighbour Carlton footballer Nick Stevens who many are now criticising for this alleged indiscretion.

And Shane Warne turned up too, he's apparently a fan of Fenech's.

But with his image tarnished by a shop lifting episode and his relationship with Gatto the fight was worth it, says Fenech even though he went in sporting an injured rib:

JEFF FENECH: Yeah I've had a sore rib and I took a torn rib cartilage into the fight and I yeah I got hit on there very early so I was in a lot of pain but that's part of the parcel of our sport and you know I think it's always sweeter when you win if you've got a little bit of adversial if you've worked really hard.

I had to work really hard for this, I lost 46 pounds, I obviously hard sore hands everyday leading up to the final night and then I hurt my rib early in the training so it was good.

MONICA ATTARD: What made you go in with a hurt rib?

JEFF FENECH: Well I just thought I just want to get this over and done with this was just a one off thing and I didn't want to cancel and have to start training all over again.

MONICA ATTARD: Because the AMA, The Australian Medical Association had actually come out and called for this fight to be put off, they said it was stupid.

I mean in light of the injury that you went in with...

JEFF FENECH: A 100 per cent, but the AMA they're the stupid people, I mean until they get into the nitty gritty of get someone involved in the sport to make sure it's policed properly and it's matched properly, they don't really know what they're talking about.

You know I mean look see I can go to the doctors now and say I have a sore leg I need six weeks off work and as long as I sign that Medicare card and them doctors get paid I get whatever I want.

So I mean they're the last people I'm going to take notice of, I mean obviously if they were doing things right and checking out the sport and going through it and making sure that everything else was right then you could talk to me.

If they just get up and say ban the sport it's crazy because the sport's never going to be banned.

MONICA ATTARD: But was it harder?

Did you notice a different going in as an older boxer?

You know was it harder physically on you?

JEFF FENECH: Of course, of course it harder everybody tells you when you get older things don't change, they lie, but of course it was harder.

And like I said it was a challenge and it wasn't as if I was fighting someone who was 25 either, I was fighting somebody who was older than me so we both knew that, we were both inducted into the hall of fame and then at the end of the day there's no difference if two 18 year old guys go in the ring or two 48 year olds and the sport's dangerous and we know that and we go in there and we take our own risks.

MONICA ATTARD: Now the Sydney Morning Herald commented that you were both 10 kilos and 16 years past your peak.

Does that hurt?

JEFF FENECH: No, not at all, it might hurt the guy who's writing it because I earn more for than him for stepping in the ring for 30 minutes than he would in his whole life so...

MONICA ATTARD: How much did you get for stepping in the ring?

JEFF FENECH: Ooh I don't know yet, but I guarantee you it will be more than he earns in his entire life at work so.

MONICA ATTARD: What's a ballpark figure on what you might take away with you?

JEFF FENECH: Well yeah it would be up there, it would be well over a million dollars and it's not about that.

People say things because they want to say them and you know again when they criticised me for being 10 years older or what it may be well there wasn't a fitter guy in Australia than me when I went in the ring.

Get any boxer in Australia to try to do what I done, compare my condition to any other boxer in the country, any other athlete and there would be no problem for me not just to beat them but to keep up with anybody at 44.

So the guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

As I said he mightn't like the sport, he mightn't like me, but again I can't make people say what I want them to say I can't make them think and you know they're entitled to their own opinion and he's made his and good luck to him.

MONICA ATTARD: A lot of people said this was an exhibition match, it wasn't you know, in that it was done for money.

Is that something that you reject?

JEFF FENECH: If you run your hand over the top of my head or see a few of the bruises or know what I went through and the same with Azumah.

It definitely wasn't an exhibition and of course we wanted to make some money and Azumah wanted to make money because he has a huge charity organisation that he's just started there, a foundation that he's just built and he wants to put money into that and I'm donating money into a few charities and that's great and the rest of it is for me and him.

We're the guys who have done and the work and if people didn't want to watch it they wouldn't pay for it and we wouldn't have earned any money, so it's simple.

MONICA ATTARD: You've been a bit down on your luck financially speaking in recent times.

You've lost a lot of money in some property didn't you?

JEFF FENECH: Yeah I lost a lot of money with Radisson Maine, I lost money with a few other things, but I didn't need money so it definitely wasn't for money and they were just some bad mistakes I made but I never made the decision to fight because I needed the money.

I made the decision to fight because I was challenged and I thought the challenge for me to get down the weight and show people that I was real, was a great challenge and I wanted to show all Australians that at 44 if you want to loose something, if you want to get in peak physical condition you can and I think I showed not just Australia but I showed the whole world that.

MONICA ATTARD: Were you kind of setting out to prove something to yourself as well?

JEFF FENECH: This was all for myself this was not for me to prove I can beat (inaudible).

Everything I've done over the last 14, 15 weeks was for Jeff Fenech and his family and like I said and ...

MONICA ATTARD: For what end, for the money or to prove something?

To prove that you could do it.

JEFF FENECH: For everything, for everything and listen anything that I will earn in the next few weeks goes to make sure that my children have a great education, make sure they've got everything they need for the rest of their lives and make sure that I can live the lifestyle that I like to live and that's a great lifestyle.

But as I said, I never at any stage thought I was trying to do this to make some money but obviously when I sat down I go through it all and I'm going to make money.

I deserve it I'm the guy that got out there and took the risk, I'm the guy who trained everyday like I said and if people didn't want to watch it they didn't have to.

If people didn't want to come to the venue they didn't have to but they did.

We had like over 8,000 people there and pubs and clubs all over Australia were full and many homes took the fight so nobody held a gun to anybody's head and said 'buy the fight, Jeff Fenech needs the money', we didn't do that.

We never promoted that and all I can say is hey I don't really give a rats you know what, what anyone thinks about me anymore.

I'm a big guy, I'm 44, I'm very, very mature and like I said, I can't control anybody's feelings and their emotions and all I can do is what I want to do and I done that for Jeff Fenech and I'm proud.

I'm now at 44 I'm going to donate money to the Spastic Centre to the Down Syndrome Society, I helped Shane Warnes charity while I was in Melbourne.

I helped the special Olympics before I left, I raised them over $20,000 and if can do that by having a fight and even if I got knocked out I'd do it one day a week, I'd get knocked out once a week if I was going to help four or five charities a week, that wouldn't bother me one bit.

MONICA ATTARD: And of course Shane Warne was at the fight wasn't he?

JEFF FENECH: Yeah of course you know, Shane's a great friend of mine.

We're very, very good friends I'd spend days before the fights at Shane's house player poker and enjoying ourselves together.

MONICA ATTARD: And you beat him at poker isn't that right?

JEFF FENECH: Yeah I won a big poker tournament, Triple 8 poker had a huge tournament down in Melbourne where there were 200 people from all walks of life that wanted to win tickets to go to Vegas or guys who would be in all the poker tournaments all around the world and I was pretty lucky doing that, not only did I get good cards but I'm heading to Las Vegas next week for the world series of poker so things have been happening well for me so yeah like you said earlier, I've gone through a few lows over the last year or two but hopefully there are a lot of highs on the way.

MONICA ATTARD: So the interest in poker, how long has that been there?

JEFF FENECH: I've played for a long time, my little son who's 18, Bo, he loves it and he plays and he got me hooked and me and my son go to the casino every now and again or he goes more than me and he goes to all the little local places around his house and plays poker and yeah we just love it and I go to Melbourne I go to Crown Casino a lot, every time I'm in Melbourne even while I was there for my, every Sunday when I had a day off from training, I'd wake up at five in the morning, I'd hit the poker cause that's what time I run in the morning, so I go straight down to the Crown and I'd sit there and play poker for 12 hours straight.

MONICA ATTARD: Do you loose?

JEFF FENECH: You loose, you loose and win.

But the majority of times I've won so yeah I'm pretty happy with that.

MONICA ATTARD: You kind of present as this personality who's really a bit of a gambler.

I've gamble a lot with my life and through all the gambles, whether I've won or lost, I've learnt and if you continue to learn, I think you continue to be a better person and...

MONICA ATTARD: What do you learn?

JEFF FENECH: What you should do and what you shouldn't do, you learn who...

MONICA ATTARD: You're talking about strategy?

JEFF FENECH: Oh yeah, oh not just strategy but you learn who to trust and who not to trust and some of the things that I believe, I've learnt more through some of my defeats when I boxed, I learnt more when I lost, ever than when I was successful because when you loose, you've got to sit down and evaluate everything and when you win you don't really care and that's what happened when I had the first fight against Azumah Nelson.

Although I got a draw I was a huge hero when I got off the plane at home and all I done was train and didn't even think of a plan to beat Azumah Nelson.

In this fight I sat there for weeks and weeks and spoke to my trainers for weeks and everyday, the last minute before stepped into the ring I had a plan.

When I fought him in Melbourne when he knocked me out I had no plan, I just thought I'd beat him, I thought I was invincible, I thought I was just a cocky young kid who like when you've got a lot of success you don't really care and anybody who tells you success and money and fame and fortune don't change them, they're lying because fame and fortune changes everybody.

MONICA ATTARD: Did it change you?

JEFF FENECH: In every way, it made me think I was bigger and better than everybody else and I'm not. I'm the same, we're all the same.

I'm a pretty down to earth guy.

My parents come from Malta and I'm very, very proud of my heritage. I'm very, very proud of my mum and dad and I just know that there were years there where I lost my way because if you grow up...I got everything for nothing...

MONICA ATTARD: You don't like that person?

JEFF FENECH: No not at all, not at all.

MONICA ATTARD: When you look back on that person now, give me a description of him.

JEFF FENECH: He was a person who took advantage of who he was and I know people give you that advantage to do it but if I had it all over again I'd stop, think and if I went to a restaurant today and somebody tried to give me something for nothing I'd say give it to table 26 or who I'd look at and think who had no money cause I've got the money to afford it for myself.

You know it's a funny thing that when you're a celebrity or even when you're wealthy you see people want to give you things for nothing.

But we don't want to give it to the poor people, we don't want to give it to the person who struggles to go to that restaurant, has to maybe work a week to take their children and their family there where I don't have to.

I could eat there everyday but they still want to give it to me for nothing so if things reverse I'd like to think that yeah I could change a lot and I think god put me on the earth as an example and I've made a lot of stupid mistakes but I think that by the mistakes I made, a lot of people will learn from them.

And I think people will look at me and said why did Jeff Fenech do this or why did he do that or why was he involved in that and all I can say is I put my hand up.

I agree I've done some stupid things I've been in some stupid places, now I regret it but you cant change it so I just tell people, 'look, don't put yourself in the position that I was in'.

MONICA ATTARD: Was that period of going off the rails, does that account for a couple of the episodes that we've heard an awful lot about in relation to you?

One of them was obviously the theft of some watches on the Gold Coast.

What happened there?

JEFF FENECH: Well definitely, to steal something you've got to walk out of the shop with something.

I never walked out of the shop with nothing and just for all the listeners to know, I went to court on whatever the day was. Let's just invent a day. On the 18th of June just say I went to that.

When I went to appear in court on that day the prosecution and my legal team got together and sent me home.

They said 'Jeff you don't have to go to court and the charges are going to be dropped'.

MONICA ATTARD: But they weren't dropped.

JEFF FENECH: Well two days later I get a call and say there was one policeman on the Gold Coast who obviously didn't like me and he wants to carry on with this, he wants you to be charged.

MONICA ATTARD: For a long time there you said that you weren't involved.

JEFF FENECH: Well I didn't I didn't walk out....

MONICA ATTARD: But then you pleaded guilty.

JEFF FENECH: What would you rather do, plead guilty and get a $500 fine or put my family, my children through a four day trial, they'd go through that and me spend another 100, 000 and give it to some lawyers and also make the public pay for me going to court as well for the prosecution to fight against me.

And I just weighed it up and I said listen I'll get a slap on the wrist, I'll pay $500, it was a non conviction.

If I wasn't allowed there's not a chance in the world that I would have pleaded guilty.

MONICA ATTARD: But you were there weren't you?

You were there and the camera showed that you were there.

JEFF FENECH: Of course, 100 per cent I was there and I knew what my friend had done. What do I do, grab him and take him to the counter and say here my friend just stole a watch?

MONICA ATTARD: Some people would do that.

JEFF FENECH: Well I don't...who would do that?

MONICA ATTARD: Some people would do that.

JEFF FENECH: I'm asking you, would you do that?

I don't think you would, if you were with your friend and they stole something, you'd take them in to get them in trouble so that the police would come?

No you wouldn't do it. And I didn't do it and I've got no regrets about whether I did that or not but like I said I defiantly never walked out of the shop with a watch and that's...listen that means every time you go to the supermarket and put something in the trolley they can come and arrest you before you pay for it.

I didn't steal nothing, I didn't walk out of the shop with nothing and like I said...

MONICA ATTARD: But your friend wasn't going to pay for the watch was he.

JEFF FENECH: Well he didn't pay for the watch.

MONICA ATTARD: And he didn't.

JEFF FENECH: He didn't pay for the watch.

MONICA ATTARD: No.

JEFF FENECH: And he was charged and he paid the price for it.

MONICA ATTARD: And what about the incident when you were attacked?

JEFF FENECH: That just happened when I was at a restaurant, I was at my restaurant and some young kids drove past the shop and were talking to me very nicely. Politely talking and they handed me a DVD out of the car and I put it on the roof just jokingly because it was a certain DVD and these young kids got all stroppy and got cranky and started calling me names and a couple of them jumped out of the car to fight me.

And all I done was defend myself and like I said, today I look back and obviously these kids were threatened thinking that I might have hurt them and one of them picked up a bottle and hit me over the side of the face with it or stabbed me in the side of the face and again and I don't hold any grudges against those kids, they were young and they were protecting each other and you know if somebody's hurting one of my friends, I don't know if I would hit him would a bottle but I would certainly would help my friend.

MONICA ATTARD: Was there any connection between that incident and then the attack on your family home because there were seven shots fire into your home?

Nobody was injured but the bullets were recovered.

JEFF FENECH: Yeah I don't know how many shots were fired but I'm sure it may have been related but then again...

MONICA ATTARD: You think it was related?

JEFF FENECH: Yeah, in this day and age, yeah of course it was.

But in this day and age kids have access to whatever they want which is you know a reason why I would never have another child.

MONICA ATTARD: You talked a little bit before about loosing your way and how hard it is for people, for sports people in particular when they reach a certain peak in their career, it is hard I imagine because a lot of things get thrown at them.

They're adored by their fans, they get a lot of things for free.

Is that problematic? You know the endorsements and the sponsorships and everything else.

Does that create a problem for you as a personality?

JEFF FENECH: Of course it does, it creates a problem because most sportsmen especially in my sport haven't really come from no great eduction and all of a sudden you're thrown into deep water where you've got a lot of money and nobody ever teaches you the skills on how to handle it and how to handle celebrity status.

It's hard, you learn on your own and I don't think that's the right technique or that's the right way to teach people how to look after themselves or money or to respect money or respect others.

I think it's just hard to be thrown into the deep end very, very quickly cause things happen...

MONICA ATTARD: Cause we see a lot and in recent times we've seen an awful lot of problems in rugby league for example with some people coming through and you know they have alcohol and drug problems and they seem to be invincible and you yourself used that word before that you thought you were invincible.

Is it up to the codes, the sporting bodies to actually educate sportspeople in this particular aspect, how to handle fame?

JEFF FENECH: Yeah definitely so, I think there should be something in each sporting environment that has somebody there to teach these kids.

I think they should be made to go through a course and I also think that you can blame politicians for this as well because a lot of times you see these politicians they use sporting figures to go to an opening of this or that and they promise the world and the deliver the atlas, they never use these sporting people again.

But I remember when I was young in the 80's and I went to a lot of things where you know politicians promised they were going to use Jeff Fenech but they used me for the launch but they never used me for anything after it.

So I think one of the greatest things that Australia needs and if we want to call it the greatest country in the world, which I believe it's a great country we need to treat everybody equal.

I trained a team of boxers for years and years.

I trained Danny Green, I trained kids, I took over for the fight for the world title.

They got messages from the PM or from people who were important but my little boxers who were Muslim and fighting, they never got a message from nobody.

To me that was very, very upsetting as a person who got messages from the PM, from Bob Hawke who I admire and adore and I got messages from you know everybody every time I fought.

To see these boys go over and travel and fight for our country and not get a message really left an empty feeling inside of me thinking...

MONICA ATTARD: So why do you think that was?

JEFF FENECH: Well I don't want to say, yeah I obviously believe it was because yeah they're from another country and I mean to me, look see these kids felt it too.

I mean and if we want this world to be a better place we've got to treat everybody equal.

We've got to make sure that it one of those guys win any sporting event and if they're from anywhere in Australia or anywhere else, they get treated the same way we treat everybody else.

MONICA ATTARD: But did you ever feel that discrimination when you were growing up?

Coming from your background?

JEFF FENECH: When I was a young kid obviously I was called names and stuff but as I grew up I was an Aussie.

My parents were here most of our lives and I was from Marrickville and I went to the Olympic games.

But to see these couple of kids that I had and I knew that they felt it when we travelled and to me it was sad.

You look at all the cricketers and you know the Prime Minister is always at a cricket game or this or that.

Well we're in the hardest sport in the world and these kids deserve when they reach the top to get the same accolades as anybody else should.

MONICA ATTARD: Are you still involved in training people?

JEFF FENECH: Well no, no to be honest after this fight hopefully I'll be able to slowly get myself out of the whole scene of boxing, I don't really want to be involved anymore.

MONICA ATTARD: What will you do?

JEFF FENECH: I'll just look after my family, train, play poker.

MONICA ATTARD: You wouldn't be tempted to get back in the ring?

JEFF FENECH: Never.

MONICA ATTARD: That's it?

JEFF FENECH: No that's it.

MONICA ATTARD: Have you made a promise to yourself?

JEFF FENECH: I made a promise to my mother who was at the fight crying her eyes out after the fight and I'll never do that again.

MONICA ATTARD: She was really upset?

JEFF FENECH: She was upset when she heard the announcement.

She cried on the phone and I put the phone down to walk away because she was crying so much but 10 minutes later she was still crying.

So you know what those little Maltese ladies are like, they get pretty emotional.

But yeah so I wont ever do this again and the great thing was I come out of it really unscathed, a couple of bumps and bruises here and there and a sore rib but apart from that I'm OK. I'm set and I'm happy.

MONICA ATTARD: Now a few other people haven't come out of it unscathed.

There is a debate raging in Melbourne. Mick Gatto is a mate of yours.

You trained in his gym in the lead up to the fight; was at the fight obviously and he was sitting with a very well known Carlton footballer and that's become a bit of an issue down there.

Do you understand that?

JEFF FENECH: I cant believe how this can be an issue so that means the...

MONICA ATTARD: So Nick Stevens is the footballer.

JEFF FENECH: Yeah I know Nick well but that, so that means that Nick has to move from where he lives.

He's his next door neighbour, is Carlton going to buy his house and buy him a new one because he lives next door to Mick Gatto.

Listen and the other thing is what has Mick Gatto done? Mick Gatto, he's done nothing.

MONICA ATTARD: He's been involved in the Melbourne underworld.

JEFF FENECH: Well they say that but Mick Gatto as acquitted.

MONICA ATTARD: Of murder.

JEFF FENECH: He was innocent, so he was innocent.

MONICA ATTARD: But he has a certain infamy, do you understand the infamy?

JEFF FENECH: I'm not worried about the infamy, that.

The jury found him innocent so you know you're innocent until you're proven guilty so he's done nothing.I mean he's been yeah that means I'm part of the underworld because I know all of them. I'm not a part of no underworld.

I've never had a drug in my life, I've never had a smoke in my life but people tell me I've done all these things.

I've never been to places where I've been accused of being and doing things.

The bigger you are, the bigger people can make up stories about you and look all I can tell you is while I was in Melbourne, I was at a couple of charity events where Mick donated over $20,000 to charities.

$7, 000 to the Shane Warne foundation for a set of gloves signed by me and Azumah Nelson and I've seen him do it many, many times over so I am...until someone is guilty or proven guilty we shouldn't say much to them.

Of course he knows people, but he's in an area where a lot of things have happened and he knows all those people and so do I.

I know the majority of people too but I'm definitely not in the underworld.

MONICA ATTARD: So you know all of those people, the Carl Williams's and the Roberta Williams's and all of those people?

JEFF FENECH: Well I've met them yeah, I've met them.

MONICA ATTARD: Through Mick Gatto?

JEFF FENECH: No just through Jeff Fenech, I never met Mick Gatto.

I only met Mick Gatto because I was Jeff Fenech people come up and say hello to you and you say hello back to them I mean you talk to them and all of a sudden you'll them again and they'll say the same thing again.

MONICA ATTARD: So you've met them at fights and things like that event.

JEFF FENECH: I've met them at fights; I've met them at different functions yeah.

MONICA ATTARD: So do you think that this thing with Mick Gatto and Nick Stevens in Melbourne at the moment is a bit of a media storm?

JEFF FENECH: Of course it is, well if it's not I think the football club need to sit down and evaluate what they're talking about or have somebody with some common sense sit down and talk to them.

Cause like I said what's Nick going to do? Nick's not allowed to go and watch Jeff Fenech fight?

Nick's not allowed to go with his next-door neighbour and watch him fight?

So does Nick have to build a 20, 000 foot fence to the side so he cant see Mick or build a shelter around his house?

No Mick's a great guy and I mean if he was a bad guy I'm sure Nick Stevens wouldn't talk to him.

MONICA ATTARD: You think of in terms of the Carlton football team, you think they should basically pull their head in and leave him alone?

JEFF FENECH: Of course they should, Brendan Favola was at the fight, he was on another table.

Shane Warne was at the fight, all the actors from underbelly were at the fight, there were a lot of people at the fight.

There were people from every sphere, there were people from all over Australia at the fight you know other people who are suppose to be you know underworld figures but they were there all for the same purpose, they were supporting Australia and they were enjoying a night out.

MONICA ATTARD: Does Mick Gatto hate the infamy that comes with his name?

JEFF FENECH: Yeah he does, he does. He's not happy, he doesn't think he's no celebrity or anything like that but let me tell you, he's more than happy to make somebody else happy.

If somebody asks him for a photo he takes a photo not because he think's he's a celebrity but because somebody asked him, it's going to make somebody happy so he does it.

MONICA ATTARD: Do you think a fight like this one that you've just fought and won, staves off the damage to your reputation which has resulted from a number of incidences that we've discussed in this interview?

JEFF FENECH: Yeah like I said to ya, I'm not too worried about my reputation, I've got it like I said, I've got to live with myself. I look in the mirror everyday and that's the ultimate judge.

There's no other judge, nobody can judge me, nobody can accuse me of anything, I know what I do.

And I have to answer to myself and at the end of the day I've got a group of friends that I classify as my friends and if somebody who I classify as a friend thinks I've done something wrong or I believe I've done something wrong.

And my family, my wife, my kids and my close friends admire me, adore me and know that I'm the most generous and most giving person in the whole world so that's all I only have to worry about.

MONICA ATTARD: You said a couple of times during this interview that it was a fabulous night, that 8,000 people all enjoying the spectacle.

What's so great about the atmosphere in a contest like that?

JEFF FENECH: Well there's two people trying to...

MONICA ATTARD: Knock each other out.

JEFF FENECH: Yeah, they're trying to achieve the ultimate, prove who is the best on the night, who is the greatest fighter in that weight division.

People love to see two people fight. People love to see blood.

MONICA ATTARD: Did you hear what was going on in the audience?

JEFF FENECH: No of course, but I could hear jeering, there wasn't a problem with that but yeah I don't listen to the audience and I made sure that I guaranteed that.

I said to my trainer, 'at the end of round nine you've got nothing to worry about, I'm doing this for Jeff Fenech, I'm not here for no crowd'.

MONICA ATTARD: Did you fear that you would come off the worst for it?

JEFF FENECH: Look if anybody tells you that they don't think that also, yeah that was going through my mind.

Of course it went through my mind prior to the fight but...

MONICA ATTARD: Were you scared?

JEFF FENECH: Not scared but...

MONICA ATTARD: Concerned.

JEFF FENECH: Nervous and I think you've got to be nervous not I mean scared of your opponent but scared to a degree where that makes you ready.

I said, I said to my trainer and the end of the ninth round, 'there's not a problem, I was in control, I knew what I was doing, I was doing this for Jeff Fenech'.

And that wasn't in a bad way, I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to give the crowd what they wanted.

The crowd wanted either me to get knocked out or him to get knocked out and I wasn't going to give that to them on that night.

MONICA ATTARD: Jeff Fenech on the grudge match against Azumah Nelson which he won by a majority decision

And that's Sunday Profile. Join me again next week; same time, same place.